Yuta “Abadango” Kawamura won Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Singles at Umebura SP 4 on August 17. Umebura SP 4 was an A-tier tournament that took place in Pio, Tokyo, Japan. There were 714 players in attendance.
Abadango advanced out of pools with a win over Gaia M. He continued through the second round of pools with a pair of impressive wins. Abadango started with a 2-1 win over Tomoki “kept” Ikeda. Then, he pulled off a commanding 2-0 over Tsubasa “Tsu” Takuma to advance into top 24.
In Winners Quarters, Abadango beat Haoka “shky” Toshiki. However, he fell to Takuto “Kameme” Ono in Winners Semis. Nevertheless, Abadango was unshaken and went on a losers run that would take him all the way to victory.
Abadango started his losers run with wins over Toshimasa “Choco” Hayakawa and Kengo “KEN” Suzuki. Then, in Losers Finals, Abadango won his rematch against Kameme with a 3-1 victory. He concluded with a fairly dominant 6-1 victory over Kentaro “Brood” Asari in Grand Finals to win Umebura SP 4.
Umbeura SP 4 is Abadango’s most notable tournament victory in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by far. His most recent tournament win was Just Roll With It! 11, a C-tier, in June. Abadango’s victory in Japan will certainly help to push him back to the heights he reached in Smash 4.
Other results from Umebura SP 4
Despite Abadango’s impressive showing, most people have been talking about the runner-up, Brood. Brood defied all expectations by placing 2nd with Piranha Plant, a character many had perceived as low-tier. In Smash 4, Brood was one of the first pioneers of the Duck Hunt metagame. As a result, it is clear that he knows how to work with under-used characters.
Brood’s run to Grand Finals on winners side came with a handful of unexpected upsets. He advanced into top 24 by defeating “Yamanyonn”, Tetsuya “FILIP” Kanazawa, and “ZAKI”. In Winners Quarters, Brood scored a particularly shocking upset over Shuto “Shuton” Moriya, the No. 5 player in the world. Afterward, Brood defeated “Gackt” and Kameme before losing to Abadango in both sets of Grand Finals.
KEN made a deep run to 4th place at Umebura SP 4 after losing to Shuton in round 2 pools. He made it to top 8 by defeating Noriyuki Kirihara, “Ri-ma”, and shky. KEN’s run continued as he earned victories over “Kome” and Gackt.
Surprise finishes
Gackt managed to reach top 8 on winners side and ultimately place 5th, scoring a handful of strong upsets. He earned victories over Takuma “Tea” Hirooka and Choco. Similarly, “DIO” had an unexpected run to 7th place after losing his very first match in round one pools. DIO defeated players like “tk3”, Ishiguro “Raito” Tetsuya, “Lv.1”, “YOC”, “Tarakotori”, and Shuton.
Tarakotori notably placed 13th at Umebura SP 4 using Little Mac, another character widely regarded as a low tier. Like DIO, Tarakotori had to go on a deep losers run after losing in round one pools. He did so successfully, defeating “Rotsuku” and Naru “Lunamado” Doma in the process.
Many of Japan’s highest-ranked players underperformed at this event. In fact, of the top 8 finishers at Umebura SP 4, only two of them were ranked on the PGRU. Those two were Abadango and Kameme. In contrast, Shuton, Tsu, and Isami “T” Ikeda placed 9th. Tea placed 17th, while Sota “Zackray” Okada placed 25th. Finally, Raito and “Lea” placed 33rd.
